Why am I blogging? The simple answer would be to stay focused. But that seems to be almost too simple. As I've been changing my reading habits to include numerous non-fiction financial books, I see so many common themes emerge. The biggest one is to make goals and stay focused on them.
Ideas and concepts seem to run rampant in my mind most of the day. I plan out a lot of things and am thinking about everything I pick up all day long. My DH sometimes calls me "Rabbit" as in Rabbit from Winnie the Pooh. His point was driven home during a Halloween episode when Rabbit announced, "I have all the fun meticulously planned out!" So, okay, I can accept that. But, in order to plan, I strive to discover all possibilities. Scenerios, like so many snippets and video clips, roll through my brain. I like this goal making and planning thing, but sometimes I overwhelm myself with too many possibilities. I hope that blogging will help me focus my energies and keep my new lifestyle together so that I can achieve focus and set long term goals.
Since starting this blog, I have also spent some time looking back at the past money mistakes I have made. And dang, I've made a lot! I have a horrible track record. If you can think of it, I've made it. While I don't want to dwell too much about the past and it's mistakes, I do want to learn from them. Isn't that why we study History in school? I do think it's much harder to do when it is your own.
But, change is good, and I am changing every single day. I hope to never stop changing. I want to grow financially and to do that I must keep everything in constant motion. Especially the positive thoughts and emotions. I hope that blogging will help me in this quest.
Family & money life:
Today, I took DH's Saturn in for new brakes. I had realized it wasn't going to be cheap and I was right. At almost 195K miles, it had never had more than pads/shoes and the usual maintenance. The rotors were also "close to the end of it's useful life" as expected and the brake lines were pretty worn. Heck, let's throw some new calipers in there as well! I spent $475 and am pretty damn happy about it. Why? Because I could. I didn't have to whip out a credit card, skip a utility, or withdraw from savings. I just paid for it out of checking. No drama. I did so good with the January budget that I had it. It needed to be done, so I did it. Simple, but it makes me happy.
A bit of money also came out of the household budget for some baby proofing improvements that desperately needed to happen. The metal baby gate that divides the house in half has a removable pin. DS has been removing the pin on an increasingly alarming basis. No one likes to be awakened by a preschooler vacuuming. Not to mention that there are 900 things he could get into quietly while mommy slept on unaware. So, today the pin was replaced by a bolt with a locking nut. We also added some new locking hardware to his closet doors. This will prevent any of my overactive imagination's predictions involving the breaker box located there.
At the bookstore:
A 10 year old boy approached me totally anxious about what he had read in a Calvin & Hobbes book. "Is this book supposed to have dirty words in it?" I just knew it had been defaced. The word was "Hail." I guess if you are an insurance adjuster, "Hail" is a dirty word.
What I'm reading:
Pure vampire trash and loving it. Hey, it can't all be about the money. A girl's got to have her mind candy too.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Thursday, January 24, 2008
The biggest lessons I've learned from No Buy.
They may seem to fall into the "well, duh" category. I knew the concepts, I knew the theories, but duh, I guess I never just got them before.
Life happens~ OK, so we all know life happens. People die, cars refuse to start, kids monkey right off the bed and into the ER. Why don't we remember this when we start a budget? You may be thinking, but wait that's what an emergency fund is for! Well, yes & no. A person's emergency fund definitions can be as varied as a cup of coffee. It's all coffee, right? Sure, but is it black coffee, light coffee, sweet & light coffee, or a tall skinny bald cafe mocha with no whip? Throw some soy options in there and you could be at the counter all day. Some people believe an emergency fund should be used for a massage when things get too stressful at work. Some people believe an emergency fund should never be touched unless they become unemployed or disabled. Blood and guts, or dinged and scraped? It's really a personal decision.
We have our own burgeoning emergency fund. It's not big, I am not ashamed to say. I feel like there are plenty of people in that boat with me, and if I don't say it, who will? I do have credit available (yes, Dave Ramsey just cringed) if things got out of hand and every day, I add to our sense of security. But, we were constantly using it for little emergencies. It seemed like every time we had $500 or $600 in the bank, we needed it for something like car repairs. With our No Buy lifestyle, I am still contributing to our emergency fund. I'll admit that I could dump in more each month now that I spend less. However, my bank balance is slowly climbing. This is allowing what I put into my emergency fund to stay there while I weather the storm. Before, I seemed to take out as often as I put in. Now, I just put in and deal with the little emergencies out of my daily checking account. I pull up my Master Plan (the name of the exel spreadsheet where I spend everything first) and say, if we can wait another week before we take the car to the shop, we can pay for it out of pocket. I realize some things can't be delayed, but some things can. I have found that it is way easier to pull out of an emergency fund than it is to put it back in. With No Buy, it's easier to stop pulling.
Think ahead~ I am a retail manager. On Christmas Eve, usually as I close the store, I shout inside my head "YEAH, IT'S DECEMBER 25TH NEXT YEAR, TOO!" to the people swarming for last minute items. If you always find yourself in a bar drinking green beer on St. Patty's Day, why wouldn't you put that in your monthly budget. Holidays and birthdays are but one example. You should also really look at your schedule for the month. Do you see a nasty week up ahead? Think about that type of week you had in the past. Did you give in one night and pull a drive-thru for dinner? If you budgeted in a pizza delivery, would it turn a stress into a treat? Maybe. Or maybe you put a few extra meals into the freezer and stick to your No Buy guns. A few well placed exemptions can make what could be a real moral buster into a moral booster.
Delay~ Sometimes, you find a great deal. If you don't grab it, it'll be gone. Knowing which should be delayed and which should be snapped up is a fine art. I've walked away from a lot of great deals in the last 6 months. Just yesterday, I saw a wonderful Mickey Mouse Clubhouse toy marked down to $8. When I first wanted to buy it for DS, I almost gave in and it was $24 then. I still walked away. Will it be gone next time I go to Wallyworld? Probably. But, I'm a lot better at walking away than I used to be. It really takes a lot of practise.
Perfection~ I'm never going to be perfect with this. I know it now. I've had months were I have done dang good and months were it's been not so good. I've learned to roll with the flow and not be too hard on myself when I fall off the wagon. Earlier this month, I posted something like this on my No Buy January thread: Today involved a tight schedule, my DS, a set of car keys, AAA, and a $2.xx hamburger. Let's just say that sometimes you have to cry "uncle!"
On the homefront:
DS picked up some type of tummy bug. Yesterday, he became all clingy when we were out at Wallyworld. One minute he was going on and on about the bicycles on the ceiling (his favorite part of the store) and the next he was hanging onto my arms and pulling me down into the cart with him. I thought he was just cold, but then he just wouldn't let go. We came home and he had a fever just over 100. I gave him some tylenol and plopped him down with a movie. DH gave him some applesauce, which he later left all over both of them. His fever was much better this morning, but he was still whipped. So, we had a Pixar Film Festival! Usually, I would hate DS to watch this much tv, but he was dozing off as much as he was watching it.
Overheard in the bookstore:
Still off! Yippee! Back to work tomorrow.
Current reading:
Still reading the Clason, but the book before it was
You're Broke Because You Want To Be: How To Stop Getting By and Start Getting Ahead- by Larry Winget Wow! What a kick in the ass! I loved it and will probably blog about it soon.
Life happens~ OK, so we all know life happens. People die, cars refuse to start, kids monkey right off the bed and into the ER. Why don't we remember this when we start a budget? You may be thinking, but wait that's what an emergency fund is for! Well, yes & no. A person's emergency fund definitions can be as varied as a cup of coffee. It's all coffee, right? Sure, but is it black coffee, light coffee, sweet & light coffee, or a tall skinny bald cafe mocha with no whip? Throw some soy options in there and you could be at the counter all day. Some people believe an emergency fund should be used for a massage when things get too stressful at work. Some people believe an emergency fund should never be touched unless they become unemployed or disabled. Blood and guts, or dinged and scraped? It's really a personal decision.
We have our own burgeoning emergency fund. It's not big, I am not ashamed to say. I feel like there are plenty of people in that boat with me, and if I don't say it, who will? I do have credit available (yes, Dave Ramsey just cringed) if things got out of hand and every day, I add to our sense of security. But, we were constantly using it for little emergencies. It seemed like every time we had $500 or $600 in the bank, we needed it for something like car repairs. With our No Buy lifestyle, I am still contributing to our emergency fund. I'll admit that I could dump in more each month now that I spend less. However, my bank balance is slowly climbing. This is allowing what I put into my emergency fund to stay there while I weather the storm. Before, I seemed to take out as often as I put in. Now, I just put in and deal with the little emergencies out of my daily checking account. I pull up my Master Plan (the name of the exel spreadsheet where I spend everything first) and say, if we can wait another week before we take the car to the shop, we can pay for it out of pocket. I realize some things can't be delayed, but some things can. I have found that it is way easier to pull out of an emergency fund than it is to put it back in. With No Buy, it's easier to stop pulling.
Think ahead~ I am a retail manager. On Christmas Eve, usually as I close the store, I shout inside my head "YEAH, IT'S DECEMBER 25TH NEXT YEAR, TOO!" to the people swarming for last minute items. If you always find yourself in a bar drinking green beer on St. Patty's Day, why wouldn't you put that in your monthly budget. Holidays and birthdays are but one example. You should also really look at your schedule for the month. Do you see a nasty week up ahead? Think about that type of week you had in the past. Did you give in one night and pull a drive-thru for dinner? If you budgeted in a pizza delivery, would it turn a stress into a treat? Maybe. Or maybe you put a few extra meals into the freezer and stick to your No Buy guns. A few well placed exemptions can make what could be a real moral buster into a moral booster.
Delay~ Sometimes, you find a great deal. If you don't grab it, it'll be gone. Knowing which should be delayed and which should be snapped up is a fine art. I've walked away from a lot of great deals in the last 6 months. Just yesterday, I saw a wonderful Mickey Mouse Clubhouse toy marked down to $8. When I first wanted to buy it for DS, I almost gave in and it was $24 then. I still walked away. Will it be gone next time I go to Wallyworld? Probably. But, I'm a lot better at walking away than I used to be. It really takes a lot of practise.
Perfection~ I'm never going to be perfect with this. I know it now. I've had months were I have done dang good and months were it's been not so good. I've learned to roll with the flow and not be too hard on myself when I fall off the wagon. Earlier this month, I posted something like this on my No Buy January thread: Today involved a tight schedule, my DS, a set of car keys, AAA, and a $2.xx hamburger. Let's just say that sometimes you have to cry "uncle!"
On the homefront:
DS picked up some type of tummy bug. Yesterday, he became all clingy when we were out at Wallyworld. One minute he was going on and on about the bicycles on the ceiling (his favorite part of the store) and the next he was hanging onto my arms and pulling me down into the cart with him. I thought he was just cold, but then he just wouldn't let go. We came home and he had a fever just over 100. I gave him some tylenol and plopped him down with a movie. DH gave him some applesauce, which he later left all over both of them. His fever was much better this morning, but he was still whipped. So, we had a Pixar Film Festival! Usually, I would hate DS to watch this much tv, but he was dozing off as much as he was watching it.
Overheard in the bookstore:
Still off! Yippee! Back to work tomorrow.
Current reading:
Still reading the Clason, but the book before it was
You're Broke Because You Want To Be: How To Stop Getting By and Start Getting Ahead- by Larry Winget Wow! What a kick in the ass! I loved it and will probably blog about it soon.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
What is my No Buy madness?
Back at the beginning of 2006, there was a book that came out entitled Not Buying It by Judith Levine. The book chronicles her year of limited purchases based strictly on necessities. To give you an idea, there was some discussion as to whether or not Q-tips were a necessity. It was pretty dang strict. The book was more bio than how to, but the thought kind of stuck in my head.
On message boards across the web, there are similar threads to the No Buy on the Disboards. However, not all boards are as supportive and kind hearted as the group who have banded with me there. I couldn't even imagine trying to post to some of them and list my September Disneyworld trip as an exemption. I'd be Flame Tree BBQ before you could say, "Hi ya, pal!"
Here is the description from our No Buy January:
The Game Plan: Everyone sets their own lists of essentials and exemptions. Think carefully over the month and try to plan ahead. For example, if you know you have a birthday coming up and need to buy a present, or if your Disney trip is coming up, list the trip period as an exemption. Everyone sets their own rules.
The Goal: To become aware of everyday spending habits and save a little money. Or, as I think of it, to end the $100 detergent habit. What's $100 detergent? It's when you run in Target or Wal-mart for laundry detergent and end up spending $100. Now, you may use everything you bought and it may fit into your budget structure, but if you are in a saving mode, did you really need it at that time? Or is it a money leak?
Posting: Try to post your progress every Monday. I found that the more often I posted, the more it kept me honest and the more I thought about it while I was in dangerous situations. If you need/want to post more often, that's up to you. We love lots of posts!
So, I guess you could say we formed a kinder, gentler No Buy support group. Honestly, the thread is more about budgeting, planning ahead and controlling impulses. While not spending can have a positive impact on the environment due to less consumption, we really do not get political. We set our goals, sometimes reaching much higher, sometimes falling off the wagon, but for the most part, we stick to it and stay friendly and flame-free.
Personally, I have come to love my No Buy lifestyle. It was a bit weird at first and it so seemed like I was depriving myself, but I got over it. Do I leer longingly at Jamba Juice when I pass by? Well, sure. I've only had 1 since last August, and when I ran into the counter guy, he said he thought maybe I had moved!
This No Buy thread has taught me a true life lesson about my attitudes towards money and objects than anything I can think of from my past. It is truly a positive turning point in my life.
What have been the top lessons in my six months of No Buy? Next post, baby!
Overheard in the bookstore:
Nothing! I've been off for two days and tomorrow I'm off again! Yippee! But I'm sure that out there somewhere, someone asked where the non-fiction books were.
Current reading:
Still reading the Clason, I keep re-reading parts, and if it didn't belong to the library, I'd be highlighting the heck out of it. Oh, and it's in the non-fiction section.
On message boards across the web, there are similar threads to the No Buy on the Disboards. However, not all boards are as supportive and kind hearted as the group who have banded with me there. I couldn't even imagine trying to post to some of them and list my September Disneyworld trip as an exemption. I'd be Flame Tree BBQ before you could say, "Hi ya, pal!"
Here is the description from our No Buy January:
The Game Plan: Everyone sets their own lists of essentials and exemptions. Think carefully over the month and try to plan ahead. For example, if you know you have a birthday coming up and need to buy a present, or if your Disney trip is coming up, list the trip period as an exemption. Everyone sets their own rules.
The Goal: To become aware of everyday spending habits and save a little money. Or, as I think of it, to end the $100 detergent habit. What's $100 detergent? It's when you run in Target or Wal-mart for laundry detergent and end up spending $100. Now, you may use everything you bought and it may fit into your budget structure, but if you are in a saving mode, did you really need it at that time? Or is it a money leak?
Posting: Try to post your progress every Monday. I found that the more often I posted, the more it kept me honest and the more I thought about it while I was in dangerous situations. If you need/want to post more often, that's up to you. We love lots of posts!
So, I guess you could say we formed a kinder, gentler No Buy support group. Honestly, the thread is more about budgeting, planning ahead and controlling impulses. While not spending can have a positive impact on the environment due to less consumption, we really do not get political. We set our goals, sometimes reaching much higher, sometimes falling off the wagon, but for the most part, we stick to it and stay friendly and flame-free.
Personally, I have come to love my No Buy lifestyle. It was a bit weird at first and it so seemed like I was depriving myself, but I got over it. Do I leer longingly at Jamba Juice when I pass by? Well, sure. I've only had 1 since last August, and when I ran into the counter guy, he said he thought maybe I had moved!
This No Buy thread has taught me a true life lesson about my attitudes towards money and objects than anything I can think of from my past. It is truly a positive turning point in my life.
What have been the top lessons in my six months of No Buy? Next post, baby!
Overheard in the bookstore:
Nothing! I've been off for two days and tomorrow I'm off again! Yippee! But I'm sure that out there somewhere, someone asked where the non-fiction books were.
Current reading:
Still reading the Clason, I keep re-reading parts, and if it didn't belong to the library, I'd be highlighting the heck out of it. Oh, and it's in the non-fiction section.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
A fresh clean piece of paper...
Ah, a shiny new blog. It's a bit like a fresh clean piece of paper, a new notebook, or sketch pad. The possibilities are truly endless. They stretch before me and quite frankly, begin to dwarf my thoughts. If I continue to think of this as my very first post, I shall begin to over analyze the whole damn thing. So, let me dive in without sticking my toe in the water.
Months ago, I had endeavored to take my beloved boys (my husband-DH & my son-DS) to Walt Disney World in September. It was months earlier than we had planned to take our next trip. In fact, it was this week in January that I had originally planned a visit to the Big Cheese. Alas, DS was to turn 3 in September and this is the magical age that Disney begins to charge admission. When their free dining offer came out, I figured the numbers and realized that with the free food and free son, I would easily save over $600! I then booked us the September trip and we completed it just days before the magical 3rd birthday.
But, how to pay for it six months before my budget would truly allow for it? It was going to be tight, but I could, indeed, pull it off. I began to dig through the gray matter and was spending a lot of time on the Disboards Budget Forum. In August, I issued myself a personal challenge to reduce the amount of money I was spending and to go on a strict budget. I posted the thread No Buy August looking for support. I will never forget one of the first reactions I received. A poster replied that it sounded like a crash diet and while I may not remember the exact words, but it portended doom.
Doom, indeed! I was rescued by several believers who have been the cornerstone in my self-control. My lifestyle has truly changed. It is now very rare that I spend even a penny without spending it on paper, er, spreadsheet first. We are almost through with our No Buy January thread and it has been a major success! I have resolved myself to stick with it through all of 2008, but honestly, I feel as if I have truly changed my relationship with money for the rest of my life.
But what exactly am I doing with the No Buy thing? Next post, baby.
Overheard in the bookstore:
"Mommy, mommy, look! I took all the animals off the shelf."
"You sure did, baby! Now, let's go home."
Current reading:
The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason.
Months ago, I had endeavored to take my beloved boys (my husband-DH & my son-DS) to Walt Disney World in September. It was months earlier than we had planned to take our next trip. In fact, it was this week in January that I had originally planned a visit to the Big Cheese. Alas, DS was to turn 3 in September and this is the magical age that Disney begins to charge admission. When their free dining offer came out, I figured the numbers and realized that with the free food and free son, I would easily save over $600! I then booked us the September trip and we completed it just days before the magical 3rd birthday.
But, how to pay for it six months before my budget would truly allow for it? It was going to be tight, but I could, indeed, pull it off. I began to dig through the gray matter and was spending a lot of time on the Disboards Budget Forum. In August, I issued myself a personal challenge to reduce the amount of money I was spending and to go on a strict budget. I posted the thread No Buy August looking for support. I will never forget one of the first reactions I received. A poster replied that it sounded like a crash diet and while I may not remember the exact words, but it portended doom.
Doom, indeed! I was rescued by several believers who have been the cornerstone in my self-control. My lifestyle has truly changed. It is now very rare that I spend even a penny without spending it on paper, er, spreadsheet first. We are almost through with our No Buy January thread and it has been a major success! I have resolved myself to stick with it through all of 2008, but honestly, I feel as if I have truly changed my relationship with money for the rest of my life.
But what exactly am I doing with the No Buy thing? Next post, baby.
Overheard in the bookstore:
"Mommy, mommy, look! I took all the animals off the shelf."
"You sure did, baby! Now, let's go home."
Current reading:
The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason.
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